Standards-Based CTE Model Curriculum Development
Standards-Based CTE Curriculum Model (PDF)
This guide includes examples of how career and technical education curriculum is to be developed.
Strategies for Serving Special Populations Students in CTE
Strategies for Serving Special Populations Students in CTE (PDF)
This document provides strategies to schools and career and technical centers that are working with all categories of special populations as defined in the federal Perkins regulation. The 2020-21 report on serving special populations students in CTE is a summary of effective strategies identified by a statewide working group. It is not meant to serve as an exhaustive list of strategies. Rather, it captures the professional insight and in-the-field knowledge working group members shared during four meetings. It represents a jumping off point for further discussion on how best to meet the needs of CTE students across special populations in Pennsylvania and the resources needed to do this.
Leadership Connections
In 2012, under the direction of the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Bureau of Career and Technical Education (BCTE), the Meeder Consulting Group (MCG) set out to identify and document key factors that contribute to a positive working relationship among career and technology center (CTC) directors, Joint Operating Committees (JOC), and sending school superintendents.
To gather input, a series of interviews and focus groups were conducted with CTC directors, superintendents, and JOC members who volunteered to share their insights and experiences. MCG also reviewed resources and met with leaders and staff from BCTE, the Pennsylvania Association of Career and Technical Administrators (PACTA), the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA), and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA). Much of the input has been combined and condensed, and therefore not attributed to specific individuals. However, in cases where information was specific to a CTC or individual, their names were cited to lend credibility.
The following guidebook, Leadership Connections: Effective Relationships (PDF), is the result of those efforts. The purpose of this guidebook is to share ideas and practical examples of "promising practices" that CTC leadership stakeholders can implement to improve their working relationships. In summary, these practices include:
- Open, transparent, ongoing communication
- Sharing resources (financial, programmatic, etc.)
- Collaborative approaches to challenges
- Flexibility and coordination
Common understanding of purpose of, and goals for, the CTC.
Creating Aligned Calendars
The following guidebook, Creating Aligned Calendars: A Guide for Career and Technical Centers and Sending Districts (PDF), provides CTC directors and district superintendents with information and specific examples about how CTCs and their sending districts throughout Pennsylvania are working towards calendar alignment. The guide describes three different approaches to developing aligned calendars and identifies key factors to be considered during the alignment process. Although the primary audience is CTC directors, calendar alignment requires a coordinated effort among primary stakeholders from both the CTC and the sending district. With that collaborative approach in mind, this guide is intended to be a useful resource for both CTC directors and their sending district superintendent colleagues.
Student Access to Secondary CTE
Guidance on the applicable statutes and regulations that address student access to career and technical education. Additional information is included as it relates to charter school students, private school students, home-schooled students and foreign students.
Per the Pennsylvania Code, career and technical education shall be made available to every student in the high school program (22 Pa Code § 4.23 (d)(1)). Districts should not limit the attendance of students eligible for admission to a career and technical center (CTC).
In compliance with the Pennsylvania Code, if a student attends a district that does not participate in a CTC, the student may, on obtaining consent of the Joint Operating Committee of a CTC (24 P.S. § 18-1847) attend that CTC. The students of a nonparticipating district are not limited to attending the CTC that serves the attendance area in which the district is located. Further, a nonparticipating district cannot mandate that all of its students attend one particular CTC.
As stated in the Pennsylvania School Code, if a student of a nonparticipating district attends a CTC, the district of residence must pay for this education (24 P.S. § 18-1847). The school district in which the pupil resides shall be charged, for each pupil attending the CTC, an amount equal to the total approved budget for current expenses, debt service and capital outlay divided by the number of pupils enrolled in the school.
Per the Pennsylvania School Code, if a student attends a district that does participate in a CTC, the student must attend the CTC in which the district participates (24 P.S. § 1850.1(b)(21)). Only if the Joint Operating committee were to send a student to another career and technical center, which accepted the student, could a student attend a CTC different from the one in which his or her district is a participating member (24 P.S. § 1850.1(b)(21)).
Students enrolled in charter schools, including cyber charter schools, may enroll in CTCs if the charter school in which the child is enrolled contracts with a CTC for the provision of services.
Charter schools, including cyber charter schools, are not party to the negotiated agreements between school districts and CTCs.
It is the responsibility of the charter school to decide whether to make a career and technical school curriculum available to the student and, if so, to contract with a CTC for the provisions of these services. When a student chooses to attend a charter school, the student chooses the charter school's educational offerings, which may or may not include a career and technical education. A charter school may contract with a CTC to provide a career and technical education option for its students, but a charter school is not required to provide such an option unless it becomes part of a student's individualized education program. The charter school and the CTC must establish an appropriate charge for charter school students receiving a career and technical education.
If a charter school student does attend a CTC, the charter school shall receive the full Selected Expenditure to which it is entitled from the student's resident school district, and the charter school must pay the CTC the established contractual charge for a student who receives a career and technical education. A student's school district of residence shall not be responsible for paying a CTC for the career and technical education received by a charter school student. The Pennsylvania Department of Education has no authority to withhold payments from the charter school in the event there are disputes regarding payments to a career and technical school by a charter school. Such disputes shall be resolved between the charter school and the career and technical school based on the contractual agreement between them.
Pursuant to 24 P.S. § 5-502, "[n]o pupil shall be refused admission to the courses in these additional schools or departments, by reason of the fact that his elementary or academic education is being or has been received in a school other than a public school." This provision expressly allows students attending nonpublic schools to dually-enroll in both the nonpublic school and the public school in order to participate in programs offered at vocational schools.
Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, school districts must develop policies and procedures consistent with applicable career and technical education enrollment policies or seat allocation provisions to permit home education students to participate in a career and technical education program. A home education student must be allowed to participate in a career and technical education program provided that the home education student meets all eligibility and prerequisite criteria and complies with all policies, rules, and regulations of the school district and/or career and technical center.
Career and technical centers must register with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) program to be authorized to enroll foreign students. If the CTC is eligible to accept students on F-1 visas, the student must pay the tuition to attend the career and technology center. The tuition would be the full, unsubsidized per capita cost of the education.
Supporting Students' Transition to Postsecondary
To help students make a successful transition, teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators at many of Pennsylvania's career and technical centers (CTC) are providing explicit and innovative supports that increase students' college and career awareness, help them navigate through the college application and admission process, and help them enter the workforce.
Supporting CTE Students Transition to College and Career (PDF)
The report provides promising examples of the following types of supports.
- Preparing for College and Career: Events and Opportunities
- Encouraging Students to Earn College Credits at the Career and Technical Center
- Offering Specialized Support from Guidance and Career Counselors
- Supporting Students with Special Needs
Act 117 - Area Career and Technical Education Schools Report
The Act 117 (Area Career and Technical Education Schools) Report is prepared annually by the Department of Education, Bureau of Career and Technical Education to inform the Standing Committee on Education of the Senate and House of Representatives on matters related to area career and technical education schools as required by Act 117 of 1986 and Section 1803.1 of the Pennsylvania School Code. If you would like a copy of the Act 117 Area CTE Schools Report, contact the Bureau of Career and Technical Education.
Establish or Renew a CIP
This form is to be used by public school entities seeking to establish or renew a classification of instructional program (CIP) to the current Public School CIP Listing.